Two of the most successful football clubs not just in the North West but in Great Britain are looking to dominate the digital media industry but with Manchester United late to the party - they still have a lot of catching up to do.
Both clubs are currently in the United States preparing for the upcoming Premier League season but statistically speaking Liverpool have fared far better than their M62 rivals as their YouTube channel has seen a consistent spike in activity compared to the 13-time Premier League champion
The Merseyside club have been able to incorporate 'colour' content into their generic news output (press conferences etc) with trips to a NASCAR pit stop gaining over 300,000 views on one platform alone in just three days, this type of output has also been helped by signing videos that provide exclusive access and have taken the fans on the player's journey.
Liverpool's 'INSIDE' playlist includes videos set during pre season, and is related to their content following the journey of a player's path to become an official player.
This natural interest in a signing's reactions, amongst his new teammates, leads to easy promotion on social media platforms, which in turn provides greater interest in the original video.
United, who only set up their YouTube channel in February are still learning their audience desires with their highest watched video an advertisement for their launch five months ago.
Comparing the top videos for Liverpool, their top six all contain fans and natural reactions with a collective 34.1m between them showing how sponsored videos with celebrities or brands are not always the most effective - the digital media team have seemingly looked to humanise stars where possible to create interesting content.
Subscriber-ship
Given United's recent investment into YouTube content, their ability to pull themselves into the top performers is remarkable, which, thanks to their fan-base, has saw them earn 950,000 subscribers in less than half a year.
Liverpool can boast 1.2m, but have been active on the platform for six years - showing how The Red Devil's huge global audience can change short term success into a well matched comparison.
Marketing skills to date
However, given the update and evolution with regards to insights and marketing ploys such as Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) the basic skills available now are far greater than what exists half a decade ago.
For example, one of Liverpool's earliest videos is titled "Stars attend "Will" premiere" - while coming across this content on a club platform you can guess what it is about - the chances of coming across this video via a generic search are very unlikely.
Now, the massive following that English Football has on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook can be utilised to promote content via hashtags and stories making things far more accessible and marketed towards their audience.
United entered the contest late, and have benefitted greatly from industry experts who know how to promote and market content well using specific skills, with their style only changing slightly to accommodate colour scheme and strategy.
Views per videos
With Liverpool boasting a fan-base of 32.5 nmillion this is bettered only by Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester United with the latter claiming a huge 92 million fans according to Going Global.
However a look at content shows fans not engaging on the same level, with The Red Devils the most profitable club in the world their YouTube content are not hitting the possible and projected heights they could be.
While this success will come with time, their videos that could connect with two fanbases such as World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) stars earned just 38k views and was titled as "WWE Stars Dolph Ziggler and Natalya Visit Manchester United | Manchester United".
This is related to the content, but the video itself is just over one minute long and contains the WWE performers giving nicknames to the current United players with a simple dugout background and clips overlaying the footage.
This could have been produced better and with the views received - promoted better, but this depends on the subject below, with from a personal perspective, a video that would have fared better on a different platform.
Aims
Liverpool and Manchester United both produce their own television station, MUTV and LFCTV respectively but only one uses other platforms to boost interaction with their content to increase audience and revenue.
This information means that both clubs have outside sources of revenue that could be greater or lesser than the profits available for their YouTube channel.
Liverpool football club often put colourful content free on their YouTube channel to target a younger audience unable to find the disposable income to afford their subscription service with other social media platforms following a similar strategy.
However, the Merseyside club do refer back to their paywall with ending captions or stings alongside description link to attract new audience where as United at this point only offer a link but is this separation best for business?
The separation of each individual platform would help identify which terrace provides the most natural interactions but is typically useful in a data reading situation rather than building what your brand should be.
Overview
Manchester United will, or may have found what content works and what does not and with 367 videos uploaded to the video platform in just five months - they will be much better suited to a clear and swift content strategy heading into the new Premier League season.
The most successful club in England could may well become the most viewed sports channel in just a few years as while rivals Liverpool hit one million subscribers in just six years, United could may well hit that number before 2018.
Finding what works and what does not for your audience is vital and with The Red Devils boasting a much greater target audience than The Reds their aims will differ as will viewership on videos but while Liverpool remain settled and know their aesthetic they will remain on course to grow and grow.
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